Sustainable garden planned for Manhattan Beach post office

Scott Sterling

Share

In an effort to encourage sustainability and water conservation, the Manhattan Beach city council has approved a new sustainable garden to be installed in front of the post office at 15th Street and Valley Drive. The update is not without controversy, however, as the landscape renovation will require the removal of two 30-year-old trees. (The city’s arborist, on top of having a really cool job, has determined that one of the trees is already dead and the other is diseased and dying).

Started by the Manhattan Beach Environmental Task Force and continued by Leadership Manhattan Beach, a non-profit community organization, the $20,000 renovation will feature more sustainable foliage like deer grass and coffee berry. A new drip irrigation system looks to reduce the garden’s water usage by as much as 70%.

City Councilwoman Amy Howarth is confident the garden will inspire residents, telling the Beach Reporter, “If you build a demonstration garden in a public area, people see it and get inspired. It made me replace a lot of my perennials with succulents.”

The money for the renovations is being generated through fundraisers and donations to Leadership Manhattan Beach, and won’t use any city money.

Previously in Pacific Swell

KPCC's Molly Peterson on a Gilligan's Island style tour of environmental stories in and affecting Southern California. Named for the Yvor Winters poem: "The slow Pacific swell stirs on the sand/Sleeping to sink away, withdrawing land..."
Follow the blog at @PacificSwell and Molly at @KPCCmolly.